By Steve Thomas
Observer Nevis Editor
Some information courtesy of the Ministry of Information
(Charlestown, Nevis) – The head of the Nevis Electricity Company Ltd. is urging consumers to conserve energy to hold down electric bills while local efforts to develop renewable energy continue. As the new sources develop, the current electric surcharge will be gradually reduced.
“At the end of the day, your fuel surcharge is the result of your usage. Therefore, you should conserve,” Mr. Cartwright Farrell, general manager of NEVLEC said.
Lending agencies like the World Bank and the Eastern Caribbean Bank are urging power companies and government not to subsidise fossil fuel electric generation systems, like the diesel units now used on Nevis, he said.
“One of the things they are saying is ‘Do not subsidise them. Allow renewable energy to compete,’’’ he said. “The renewable energy people are crying foul.”
The world is pulling away from subsidising fossil fuel generation plants so alternative energy plants can compete, he said.
“NEVLEC is just following that path. It is one of the stipulations of the lending agencies that we follow that path. It is a standard that is being set around the world and we just have to follow if we are to access the funding we have been able to access,” Mr. Farrell said.
The Nevis Island Administration is working with West Indies Power and Windwatt to develop geothermal and wind energy on Nevis. These sources are expected to go on line in 2009, but that will not mean the complete elimination of the surcharge at that time, he said.
“It’s not going to be 100 percent renewable energy straight away.”
According to Mr. Farrell, the surcharge will be reduced in proportion to the amount of energy still produced by the diesel plant. If the renewable plants produce two-thirds of the power and the diesel plant produces one third of the power, customers will see the surcharge reduced by two-thirds.
The surcharge will be on the bills of all customers, he said.
“In the meantime consumers are asked to be patient and it is going to be expensive for the time being. We know it is going to hurt a little bit for now but we expect it’s on a short term basis. We expect that by 2009 we will have quite a bit of renewable energy in our energy mix and the fuel surcharge will not be applied to the units that are generated from renewable energy,” he said.
The NIA implemented a fuel surcharge in 2005 on the business sector while it continued to fully subsidise the surcharge for domestic consumers. In 2008, the NIA passed on the surcharge to domestic consumers because of the rapid increases in the price of oil on the world markets.
The administration continues to cover 50 percent of the surcharge to residential consumers.
